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Rexrode: Saban worth praise at MSU, but he made it hard

Former MSU coach Nick Saban has led the Crimson Tide to three national championships in his first eight seasons as coach at Alabama, where he has a 103-18 record overall.(Photo: Butch Dill USA TODAY Sports)

Some criticisms of Nick Saban are unfair, but they're all rooted in how he treats people.

Not very well, by many accounts and observations.

And I'm sure that has changed some over the years. He must have grown. I don't think he possibly could do what he has done at Alabama if the majority of his players there felt the way the majority of his Michigan State players felt about him.

Sure, he was close with a few. He has family and genuine friends, MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo among them, who swear he's misunderstood. He has helped the unfortunate, as all in his position should do.

He's not a monster. He just acts like a jerk a lot of times.

Memories of tense news conferences at MSU — ask him anything specific about football and prepare to be belittled — and stories from players, coaches and staffers of his petulant behavior, told with head shakes and chuckles, come flooding back now that Saban and No. 2 Alabama (12-1) will be taking on former assistant Mark Dantonio and No. 3 MSU (12-1) in the College Football Playoff.

By the way, this is a defense of Saban. And that's just it. Because we are all quite biased by personal interactions and feelings, I wonder if maybe he gets a raw deal in the legacy department.

I wonder if MSU fans would think of him differently if he had a different personality.

This is the guy who coordinated the defense of MSU's 1987 Rose Bowl team under George Perles. The guy who brought in many of the best players of that era. The guy who brought Dantonio and Ken Mannie to MSU, the guy who mentored Harlon Barnett — possibly Dantonio's successor some day — and got him into coaching.

Yeah, Saban bolted after building MSU into a 10-2 team in his fifth season. He took off for LSU and more money — Bobby Williams earned the 10th win in the Citrus Bowl in his coaching debut — and all of Saban's assistant coaches refused to go with him.

Not loyal, people said. Not our guy. Nothing but a mercenary. Didn't believe MSU could be a championship program, a misconception Dantonio has exposed.

But what do we talk about when we try to explain how Dantonio has developed a program that has 11 wins in five of six seasons and a third straight top-five finish — at least — on the way? We talk about harmony in the athletic department.

We talk about MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis, and how they interact with each other and their coaches. It's an underrated factor, they all say, in success that has Izzo's team ranked No. 1 and Dantonio's No. 3 this week.

Well, then, look back to Saban's era. He and Izzo were tight, and they dreamed of having what Izzo and Dantonio have today. But a disagreement with then-MSU President M. Peter McPherson over an annuity was a well-documented factor in Saban's departure and an indicator of the quality of that relationship.

And Saban and then-athletic director Merritt Norvell? There was no relationship. Yes, Norvell was gone a few months before Saban split, but Clarence Underwood was in place as interim AD, and there was no clear direction.

The atmosphere around MSU athletics then was nothing like it is now. And the challenges were different. Saban never will live down this quote he gave to ESPN.com a few months after leaving: "At Michigan State, we were never No. 1. That was always Michigan. It was always 'U-M this or that.' "

How dare he be completely honest and accurate. It's to Dantonio's credit that he has overcome a lot of that, but he has benefited some from U-M's downfall as well. Saban took on U-M in the midst of a 40-year run.

So if Saban handled all this better, dealt with people better, would he be held in higher regard in East Lansing? I think so. I also think the incredibly erratic football of his MSU tenure can be traced to his inability to get an entire locker room behind him.

I think the incredibly consistent football of Dantonio's tenure can be traced to his ability to do exactly that. And if there's a mentor who deserves credit for that, it's Jim Tressel.

But Dantonio learned a lot of the game from Saban, and Saban seems to have learned some things about establishing "culture." This isn't just about talent accumulation. The Tide wasn't exactly rolling before he got there.

Saban is an all-time great coach and a guy who did a lot for Michigan State. If nothing else, appreciate his football. Just don't ask him about it.

Contact Joe Rexrode: jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe. Download our new Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!